PRICE of BLOOD
written and Illuftrated by
Howard Pyle
LIBRARY
UNIVeHSlTY OP
CALIFORNIA
SAN DIEGO
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
Upon the last stage of their journey they stopped for dinner at a tavern.
PRICE OF BLOOD
An Extravaganza of New York Life in 1807
Written in Five Chapters and Illustrated by
H O W A R
P Y L E
Boston From the Publishing House of
RICHARD G. BADGER & CO.
157 Tremont Street MDCCCXCIX
COPYRIGHT 1899 BY
RICHARD G. BADGER & Co.
All Rights Reser-ved
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION Page n
CHAPTER I Page 17
THE EXTRAORDINARY AND INITIAL CLIENT OF A
YOUNG LAWYER WITHOUT PREVIOUS PRACTICE
CHAPTER II Page 39
THE REMARKABLE BEHAVIOR OF THE LAWYER'S
SECOND CLIENT
CHAPTER III Page 5 1
THE HORRIFIC EPISODE IN THE COURSE OF WHICH
THE LAWYER OBTAINED A THIRD CLIENT
CHAPTER IF Page 67
IN WHICH IS RELATED THE REMARKABLE BEQUEST
OF THE LAWYER'S FOURTH CLIENT
CHAPTER V Page 8 1
THE CONCLUSION OF THE STORY OF THE YOUNG
LAWYER AND HIS FOUR CLIENTS
CONCLUSION Page 9 7
ILLUSTRATIONS
" Upon the last stage of their journey they stopped for dinner at
a tavern " frontispiece
" Bidding his companions to await his return, .... he followed
his interlocutor " facing page 26
The somewhat peculiar pastime of our hero's second client
facing page 44
" You next ! " facing page 58
" It was at this juncture . . . that an apologetic knock fell upon
the door " facing page 68
" The negro advanced to the portmanteau, . . . and displayed
the contents to his master " facing page 90
HERE FOLLOWS THE
INTRODUCTION
NTRODUCTION
N the year 1807 NCW York was
grown to be a city of no small pre
tension to an extremely cosmopol
itan cast of society. Being a sea
port of considerable importance and
of great conveniency to foreign im
migration, it had even before this become a favorite
haven for itinerant visitors from European countries,
who for reasons best known to themselves did not
find it to fit their inclinations to remain at home.
These people, being received into the society of the
most exclusive and particular fashion of the town,
soon lent to the community a tone characteristic of
the manners and customs of European centres of
civilization.
Could the reader have been introduced into our
American city at this period of its history, he might
easily have flattered himself that he was in London
or Paris. Or could he have stood upon Courtlandt
Street corner, and have beheld young gentlemen of
style dressed in the latest English mode or the young
ladies gay with red hats and red shawls worn a la
1 1
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
Fran$aise passing in review upon their evening prom
enade, he might have believed himself to have been
transported into a community composed of both
those European cities. Madame Bouchard, the man-
tua-maker upon Courtlandt Street, vied in public
favor with Mrs. Toole, the English woman, whose
shop upon Broadway had for so long been the partic
ular emporium of fashionable feminine adornment.
Fashionable bucks, who could afford to do so, drank
nothing but Imperial champagne at Dodge's ; and
young ladies who aspired to the highest flash of
ton made it a point to converse in French from the
boxes of the theatres between the acts of Mr. Cooper's
performances. Monsieur Duport taught dancing to
young people of quality at twenty-five dollars a quar
ter, and the French waltz and the English con-
tra-dance divided the favor of the most recherche
assemblies.
So much as this has been told with a certain
particularity that the author may better invite the
confidence of the discerning reader; for otherwise it
might cause him some misgivings to accept with
entire assurity the fact that a deposed East India
Rajah should secretly have maintained his court in
an otherwise unoccupied house on Broadway, and it
might shock his sense of the credible to accept the
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THE PRICE OF BLOOD
statement that an Oriental Potentate should have
been able successfully to pursue his vengeance against
the authors of his undoing in so unexpected a situa
tion as the town of New York afforded.
It is with so much a preface as this that the au
thor invites his reader to embark with him upon the
following narrative, which, though it may at times
appear a little strange and out of the ordinary course
of events, may yet lead the thoughtful mind to con
sider how easy it is for the innocent to become
entangled in a fate which in no wise concerns him,
and for the discreet to become enveloped in a net
work of circumstances which he himself has had no
part in framing.
Accordingly, while the frivolous may easily read this
serious story for the sake of entertainment, the sober
and more sedate reader will doubtless carry away with
him the moral of the discourse which the author would
earnestly point out for his consideration.
HERE FOLLOWS THE
FIRST CHAPTER
CHAPTER ONE
The Extraordinary and Initial CLIENT of a Young
LAWYER without Previous PRACTICE.
HERE was at this period in the
town of New York a number of
young gentlemen possessed of very
lively spirits and pretty ingenious
tastes for folly. These gay rattlers
about the town had gathered them
selves together into a society known as the " Bluebird
Club," in which they pledged themselves not only to
eat a supper of oysters and to drink as considerable a
quantity of rum punch as possible, but subsequently
to perform all manner of extraordinary acts of folly.
This assemblage of rakes, though it possessed no fixed
place of meeting, usually resorted to an oyster-house
of no good repute situate upon Front Street, main
tained by a negro crimp by name Bram Gunn, whither
it gathered once a month during the period that
oysters were in season.
Because of many questions of police jurisprudence
that had arisen, it was deemed necessary by the mem
bers of the Bluebird Club to conceal their individual
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
identities as far as possible from the recognition of
those who might otherwise know them. Accord
ingly, it was customary for those who attended the
assemblies of the club to assume for the occasion
some such masquerade or disguise as the rag-fairs of
the junk-shops or the disused wardrobes of the the
atres might afford them.
The organizer of this society and its leading spirit,
at the time of which we speak, was a young gentle
man by name Nathaniel Griscombe. He was nomi
nally an attorney-at-law ; but, though fairly entitled by
admission to practise his profession at the bar of
jnstice, he had so far had such small encouragement
therein that he had as yet found nothing whatever to
do but sit at his office window and amuse himself
with his own thoughts and speculations, with such an
occasional entertainment as might be offered by the
transit across that frame of vision of one or more of
those females of lighter tastes and inclinations who
by the men of the town were denominated " does."
He was regarded by those who knew him as pos
sessed of a superior wit, and he was noted as a pro
fessional fulminator of what was then popularly known
as " whim-whams." It was also reputed that he could
consume more spirituous liquors, without a percepti
ble effect upon his equilibrium, than any man of his
age about the town.
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THE PRICE OF BLOOD
Such extravagances as he indulged in entirely hid
from the view of his acquaintances and of the town
the fact that he was a young gentleman of no un
common parts. Indeed, had fortune offered him op
portunities in proportion to his abilities instead of
neglecting him so entirely, he might have been earn
ing the applause of those in his profession who pos
sessed the respect of the community instead of
evaporating his time with such entirely shallow com
panions as those young bucks and rattlers with whom
he elected to consort. Having, however, a prodigious
amount of idle time upon his hands, and being of a
disposition that would desire the applause even of
the vain and foolish rather than no applause at all,
he yielded himself with only an occasional qualm of
conscience to the indulgence of such follies and
escapades as afforded excitement and interest for the
moment to his extremely volatile spirits and active
temperament.
Upon a particular night this young gentleman
wended his way to a meeting of the Bluebird Club,
arm in arm with three fellow-members. Each was
clad in a most extravagant and ridiculous masquerade.
One was adorned with along night-gown covered over
with yellow moons, a mask with a prodigious nose and
spectacles, and a wig of cotton-wool. Another wore
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THE PRICE OF BLOOD
the black costume of an astrologer, his face blackened,
and a tall steeple-crowned hat made of black paste
board upon his head. Our young gentleman of the
law had clad himself in the loose cotton blouse and
drawers of a clown. Upon his head he wore an
extraordinary cocked hat with a rosette and ribbons
of green, yellow, and red ; and, to further conceal his
identity, he had chalked his face, and had painted
red circles in vermilion around his eyes and mouth.
In these costumes our three wild bucks made their
way to the meeting-place of the Bluebird Club, shout
ing, singing, and by their pungent jests exciting alter
nate emotions of amusement and irritation in all those
whom they passed. Arriving at the meeting-place of
their society, they found gathered an unusually large
assembly, consisting of four or five and twenty other
young gentlemen, all like themselves bent upon the
execution of whims and follies, and all alike disguised
in extravagant and outrageous costumes.
With many absurd ceremonies, which were sup
posed to be of a secret nature, and a multitude of
performances which rather befitted a cage of monkeys
than a gathering of rational human beings, but which
so well sufficed to tickle their sense of wit that con
tinued roars and peals of laughter greeted each per
formance, the initiatory formalities were concluded;
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THE PRICE OF BLOOD
and a supper of stewed oysters, cucumber pickles,
water biscuit, and rum punch, was attacked with a
heartiness of appetite which did credit alike to the
easy consciences and the hearty stomachs of those
who partook thereof. Nor did the mirth of the club
at all diminish with the progress of the repast.
Rather did their sense of the ludicrous become more
keen and volatile as each new glass of rum punch was
consumed. A look, a word, a grimace, was enough
to cast the whole assembly into convulsions of laugh
ter, from which some could hardly recover before
spasms of cachinnations would seize upon them again.
The extravagance and uproar had become deafen
ing, when at their height the door of the room in
which the assembly sat at their obstreperous repast
was suddenly flung open, and a portentously tall and
mysterious figure, clad entirely in black, entered the
apartment, and stood regarding the furious scene of
folly in masquerade, if not with amazement, at least
with a perfectly silent observation. The figure that
thus so suddenly appeared was wrapped in a long
rich cloak of a dark and heavy material, the face being
entirely hidden by a mask hung with long black silk
fringe. This apparition stood for a considerable time
unobserved by our young racketers, who were too
far engrossed in their own follies to take notice of any-
21
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
thing else ; but presently one, and then another, and
then all of the individual members became aware of
his presence. This acknowledgment of the advent
of the stranger was indicated by a redoubled outburst
of uproar, composed of shouts, whistles, and cat-calls ;
and, supposing nothing else than that the new-comer
was one of their members, they began freely to be
stow upon him such part of the evening's entertain
ment as had not been consumed in a shower of
cucumber pickles and water biscuit that fairly rained
upon him like a storm of hail.
Any one less determined upon a purpose than the
stranger could hardly have stood his ground. As it
was, he made no pretence of defending himself from
the attack, but submitted to the assault of the Blue
bird Club with so much dignity of demeanor that,
what with the richness of his attire, so different from
their tinsel foppery, and what with the silence of his
observation, — his eyeballs now closing into darkness
and now shining whitely beneath the ebony shadow of
his mask, — it began to dawn upon the brains even of
our half-tipsy buffoons that here was sonrething of
a different purpose from their intemperate madness
and frenzy of folly.
By little and little the uproar in the room dimin
ished, until at last all fell fairly silent, and sat return-
22
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
ing the gaze of the visitor, if not with a growing
respect, at least with an increasing curiosity as to the
purpose of the presence that had thus unexpectedly
introduced itself upon their absurd and senseless per
formances. Whereupon, being able now to make
himself heard, the stranger in a commanding voice
demanded to know which of the company present was
the attorney-at-law, Nathaniel Griscombe.
It may be imagined that our young lawyer was
somewhat surprised and sobered by this inquiry.
Rising from his seat, he replied to the challenge that
he was the individual whom the other named ; and
then, suspecting that it might be the intention of the
stranger to put a hoax upon him, he added that, if
the visitor was up to any whim-whams or bit of
hoax, he, Nathaniel Griscombe, was a rattler himself,
and knew perfectly well exactly what o'clock it was.
The stranger, without any immediate reply, re
garded our young gentleman for a considerable time
in silence. But, if he experienced any emotion of
surprise or amusement at the sight of his white and
bepainted face and the extraordinary attire that the
youthful attorney presented to him, he made no be
trayal of his sentiment. " Sir," said he, with perfect
seriousness, " so far from jesting or desiring to jest, I
assure you that I at this moment am more serious
23
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
than I suppose you have ever been in all of your life.
I have been looking for you everywhere, and have
gone from place to place, misdirected by every one
from whom I requested knowledge. I have stood at
the door for a considerable time, knocking ; but, find
ing myself not heard because of the noise you have
been making, and not choosing to wait all night for
permission to enter, I came in without being bidden,
to find you, at last, in this company of apes and buf
foons. My purpose in coming here, I must inform
you, is of so serious a nature that, were it governed
by other circumstances, I would at once withdraw
and leave you in peace to the continuation of your
folly. But you will perhaps be surprised when I
assure you that it is with the utmost satisfaction I
discover you in such a place as this, and so sur
rounded and engaged as you are."
At these words, spoken with perfect sobriety and
every appearance of candor, our young gentleman
presented, it must be confessed, a rather silly face.
" Upon my word," he said with as easy a laugh as
he could assume for the occasion, " I am very well
pleased that my present surroundings afford you
satisfaction. I can only say, however, that I am glad
you are not likely to come to me as a client ; for your
respect for my parts could hardly be augmented by
finding me so engaged."
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THE PRICE OF BLOOD
" As to that," returned the stranger, with unrelaxed
sobriety, " you will no doubt be additionally surprised
to learn that I do indeed come to you as a client to
his attorney."
" Then, indeed, sir," cried our young gentleman,
who began again sagely to suspect that a hoax was
being put upon him, " you have my word of honor
that I am at a loss to guess why you are satisfied to
find me indulging in such folly and intemperance as
that which you discovered when you favored us with
this unexpected visit."
" As to that," said the stranger, " I can easily en
lighten you. The nature of the business in which I
would employ you is of such a sort as to demand the
attention of one not only possessed of spirit and
courage and an entire command of unoccupied time,
but also of one possessed of other and very different
qualifications. To this end I have made diligent in
quiries ; and I have conceived the opinion that you
are a man not only possessed of considerable parts,
but of an honesty sufficient to carry you through so
delicate and dangerous a commission as that with
which I have to intrust you."
At these words, our young gentleman knew not
what face to assume ; nor could he yet tell whether to
regard the whole affair as a hoax or as the beginning
25
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
of a more serious adventure. " Upon my word, sir,"
he cried, " you pique my curiosity. But, if I am to
believe what you tell me, I must be better assured of
your truth. I am, as you may well believe,, too know
ing a bird to be caught by chaff."
" Indeed," said the other, " you yourself can alone
prove the sincerity of my words ; nor would it in the
least remove the doubts that you entertain of my sin
cerity, should I inform you that the business upon
which you will be employed concerns the possible
murder of my own self. If, however, you are the man
of mettle I suppose you to be, you have only to
accompany me in the conveyance that awaits below,
and you can then and there satisfy yourself as to
whether I have spoken with veracity or with dis-
ingenuousness."
By this time, as may be believed, the assembly of
young bucks had fallen entirely silent ; nor could our
young attorney compose himself to any frame of mind
to digest the credibility of that which he heard. " I
protest," he cried at last, " the more you tell me, the
more my belief is increased that you have a purpose
to make me the victim of a jest. Nevertheless, if
what you have just said is offered as a challenge, you
shall find me your man ; for I declare that I am not
afraid to accompany you or any other man, wherever
you may choose to conduct."
26
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THE PRICE OF BLOOD
Thereupon, bidding his companions to await his
return, he arose, and, removing his cocked hat with
its parti-colored ribbons from its peg upon the wall
where it hung, he followed his interlocutor down the
staircase to the street below.
Here he discovered a very handsome cabriolet with
red wheels, into which, at the bidding of his compan
ion, our young gentleman stepped, the other following
him and closing the door with a crash. Thereupon
the driver instantly whipped up his horses, and drove
away at an extremely rapid rate of speed.
The curtains of the window had been closed, so that
our young lawyer was entirely at a loss as to whither
he was being conveyed, excepting that the cabriolet
continued rattling over the stony streets, and that it
turned several corners at an undiminished rate of
speed. Nor did his companion speak a word until
the vehicle was drawn up to the sidewalk with a
suddenness that nearly precipitated our hero from his
seat. Almost instantly the door was opened, and the
attorney, following his conductor, stepped out upon
the sidewalk at what appeared to be the back gate of
a considerable garden that partly enclosed the back
buildings of a large and imposing edifice standing at
a little distance, its outlines nearly lost in the obscu
rity of the night beyond.
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THE PRICE OF BLOOD
What with the many turnings of the conveyance
that had brought him thither, and what with the
fruitless surmises and speculations as to his destina
tion, Griscombe was as entirely at a loss to tell whither
he had been fetched or what was the situation of the
building he now beheld as he would have been, had
he been transported into another world. Nor did his
companion give him time for surmises or suppositions;
for, drawing forth from his breeches pocket a key, he
opened the gate, and immediately introduced our hero
through a dark and wind-swept garden and by the
back door into the kitchen of the residence, which
was illuminated by the light of a single candle.
With no more illumination than this latter could
afford, the stranger thence led the way through the
dark but richly furnished spaces of a silent and sleep
ing house of palatial dimensions, until at the further
extremity of the building he finally conducted our
young lawyer into a large and nobly appointed library.
Here a lingering fire of coals still burned in the mar
ble fireplace, diffusing a grateful warmth throughout
the apartment, at the same time lending a soft and
ruddy illumination by means of which our hero was
able with but little difficulty to distinguish the stateli-
ness and profusion of his surroundings. The heavy
and luxuriant folds of rich and heavy tapestry shel-
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THE PRICE OF BLOOD
tered the windows ; soft and luxuriant rugs of Oriental
pattern lay spread in quantities upon the floor; the
walls were hung with paintings glowing with color
and of the most exquisite outlines ; beautifully bound
books crowded the cases that surrounded the room,
and the marble mantel glistened with ormolu and
crystal adornments.
Meantime his conductor, having lit a quantity of
wax candles upon the mantel-shelf, and having laid
aside the mask that for all this while had concealed
his identity, turned at last to our hero a face whose
lineaments, though extremely handsome, were as pale
as wax and furrowed with the lines of a most consum
ing care. A quantity of hair as black as ebony curled
about his alabaster forehead, and he fixed upon his
visitor a pair of large and sombre eyes whose pierc
ing brilliancy betrayed an illimitable anxiety of soul.
Beautiful, however, as was the countenance presented
to the observer, there was in the hardness of its lines
and the thin and compressed nervousness of the lips
a stern relentlessness of expression that the smoulder
ing and sinister fire which glowed in the eyes alone
might be needed to enflame into a conflagration of
rage and of cruelty.
Having motioned Griscombe to a soft and luxuriant
seat upon the other side of the fire, himself leaning
29
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
with an elegant ease against the mantel-shelf, this
strange and singular being composed himself as
though with a considerable effort, and addressed to
his listener the following extraordinary discourse, with
out any preface whatever : —
" You will doubtless be considerably surprised," he
said, " to learn that you behold before you one who
feels well assured that he is already condemned to an
unknown death that shall visit him perhaps within
the course of a day or two — perhaps within the course
of a few hours. I know perfectly well that you may
be inclined even to doubt the truth of so extraordi
nary a statement or to question the entire sanity of
one who propounds so startling a statement. Nor can
I even enter into such an account of my miserable
circumstances as shall convince you at once of my
truthfulness and of my sanity, without involving you
also in the danger in which I lie entrapped. Should
you be the recipient of my confidence, certain death
would probably await you, as I believe it awaits me;
and you would thus be prevented from carrying out
the important commission that I am now about to
impose upon you."
It may be rather imagined than described into
what a state of amazement, not to say stupefaction,
our hero was cast by so extraordinary a prologue.
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THE PRICE OF BLOOD
He sat, sunk into a perfectly inert silence, gaz
ing at the singular and tragic being before him,
without possessing, as it were, the power of making
a single movement. At another time his absurd and
preposterous figure, with its bedaubed and bepainted
countenance, might, in its expression of solemn
seriousness, have appeared infinitely ludicrous. As
it was, the profound tragedy of the scene was only
accented by the grotesqueness of his outlandish pre
sentment. Without seeming to observe his silence,
but fetching a profound sigh that appeared to come
from the very bottom of his heart, the speaker pres
ently resumed his address as follows : " But, though
I may not relate to you all the circumstances of my
dreadful fate, I may at least tell you this much, — that
I and another were engaged in a political revolution
in Industan, in the course of which a powerful and
implacable Oriental ruler was overthrown from
power. Knowing to what an extent I had incurred
his resentment, I thought to escape his vengeance in
this remote country. I find, however, he has discov
ered me ; and I have already received a warning that
my life is in imminent danger. My brother, who was
the companion of my machinations, as he was the
partaker of my rewards, is hidden in a remoter part
of this country ; and it is my intention not only to
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
transmit through you a warning to him of his ex
treme danger and of my own miserable fate, but also
to have you carry a portion of that treasure which
was my reward, and which I do not choose to have
fall into the hands of my enemies.
" I may, sir, be unable to convince you of my sin
cerity by the use of such empty words as those which
I am obliged to use ; but what your ears may disbe
lieve, your eyes may at least convince you of."
As he concluded, he smote his hands together
sharply two or three times in succession, whereupon
a door near to where he stood was, as though in
echo, immediately opened, by a waiting attendant,
who, with a silent footfall, entered the apartment.
This new personage upon the scene possessed an
Oriental cast of countenance, which was further en
hanced by his extraordinary costume, his head being
surmounted by a turban, and his figure clad in a long
garment of dark embroidered silk. In one hand he
bore a casket about the bigness of a hat-box, bound
about with bands of steel of prodigious strength, and
studded with polished brass nails. In the other he
carried a small tray with a leathern bag upon it.
Without betraying the slightest signs of curiosity or
surprise at Griscombe's extraordinary figure, but with
a deportment of the utmost seriousness, he placed
32
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
both of these objects upon the table beside our hero,
and then, with a profound obeisance to the gentleman
beside the fireplace, withdrew as silently and as sud
denly as he had entered.
" In yonder bag," said the gentleman, immediately
resuming his colloquy, " are one hundred pieces of
gold, valued at twenty dollars each. Such part of
this as you find necessary, you are to expend in exe
cuting the commission with which I shall presently
intrust you : the residue you are to retain as a fee for
your services. This strong box you are immediately
to convey to your lodgings in my cabriolet (which
waits for you below at the back gate), devoting to its
safety the most extraordinary care ; for it contains
a priceless treasure. If by nine o'clock to-morrow
morning you receive no word from me, you will know
that I am no longer in the world of the living, and
that the vengeance that has followed so relentlessly
upon my footsteps has at last overtaken me. In that
case you are immediately and with all despatch to
convey this box to Bordentown in the State of New
Jersey, and are to deliver it to the person designated
upon the address attached to the handle. He is my
brother; and his name, as you will discover, is Mr.
Michael Desmond. Upon the opposite side of the
ferry at Paulus Hook you will find a post-chaise
33
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
awaiting its passenger. This I have provided for
myself in case I am able to escape the dangers which
overhang me. Should I not be so fortunate as to
accomplish an escape, you are to take my place in the
conveyance, and to pursue your commission, stopping
neither day nor night until it is accomplished. My
brother I make the legatee of the greater part of
that wealth (the price, if you please, of treachery and
of blood) which has proved the source of my own
undoing. Behold ! You shall see it for yourself ! "
As he spoke, our young lawyer's extraordinary
client stepped briskly to the box, applied a key to the
lock, and lifted the lid. Within was a considerable
mass of closely packed lamb's-wool, which — as Gris-
combe, consumed by a fever of curiosity, arose to
observe — the speaker deftly removed, displaying to
the young lawyer's dazzled and bewildered gaze a
sight that well-nigh bereft him of what reason he had
remaining after his late most incredible interview.
Reposing upon a second mass of lamb's wool, hol
lowed out as though to receive its precious contents,
was a double handful of precious stones of inconceiv
able size and brilliancy, which, in the light of the
candles that had been lit, shed forth a thousand daz
zling sparks of infinite variety of flaming colors. It
was but a glance: the next moment the lamb's wool
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THE PRICE OF BLOOD
was replaced, the lid was clapped down again, the key
turned, and Griscombe's bedazzled sight returned
once more to the objects about him.
" And now, my dear sir," resumed his interlocutor,
" whether or not you believe my story, you will, I am
sure, perceive how important is the commission I in
trust to your keeping, and how well I am inclined to
pay you for all of your trouble. I trust, therefore,
you will consider me to be lacking neither in cour
tesy nor in hospitality if I beg you to withdraw, and
to return to your own house. So great is my threat
ened danger that I dare not even accompany you
to my cabriolet that is awaiting you where we left it ;
but in lieu of myself I shall send with you an attend
ant who is altogether attached to my interests, and
who will serve as a guard until you and your charge
are safely ensconced in your lodgings."
Thereupon he once more clapped his hands to
gether. Again the same mysterious attendant, who
had before replied to the summons, appeared in in
stant response, and, in obedience to elaborate direc
tions delivered in a foreign tongue, of which the young
lawyer understood not a single iota, bowed to our
hero, and indicated that he was prepared to accom
pany him upon his return.
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THE PRICE OF BLOOD
With this concludes the first chapter of pur narra
tive, with only this to add, that our hero — under the
escort of his singular attendant — arrived safely at
home, where he hid his treasure casket under the
bed, in the remotest corner of the room, until he
could otherwise dispose of it.
HERE FOLLOWS THE
SECOND CHAPTER
CHAPTER TWO
The Remarkable BEHAVIOR of the LAWYER'S Second
CLIENT.
S the ingenuous reader may readily
imagine, what little remained of that
night was passed with no great ease
or repose by our hero. But little
slumber visited his eyelids, and that
little so disturbed by vivid and dia
bolical visions of terror that he had better have
remained awake than to have fallen into so porten
tous a sleep. In a succession of monstrous images
he continually beheld his client distorted by the most
grotesque and fantastic pangs of dissolution ; as con
tinually he was haunted by visions of the journey he
was about to undertake ; and such phantoms were
always accompanied by corresponding dreams of the
strong box of treasure.
In one of these tremendous visions he beheld him
self searching in a deep bed of sliding sand for the
jewels which had been lost from the overturned
casket, while a dreadful form leaned out of the win
dow of the post-chaise upon the bank above, shriek
ing to him to hasten or it would immediately perish.
39
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
It was from this portentous dream that he awoke
to find the early winter daylight struggling through
the window-shades, and to an immediate realization
of the strange and inexplicable commission that
awaited him.
Nor was it until in the gray of the morning he had
again viewed the bag of gold and the casket of treas
ure, that he could feel entirely assured that what had
befallen him the night before was not an hallucina
tion, such as those that had pursued him throughout
the troubled sleep from which he had just aroused
himself. It appeared to him incredible that such
strange occurrences could really have happened to
him, and it was above an hour before he could com
pose his mind to accept that which had occurred.
Finding himself at the end of that time in no small
degree exhausted by the several instances of extreme
excitement through which he had just passed, and
discovering that he was now assailed by a sharp and
vehement appetite, he determined to visit an oyster-
bay at the neighboring Oswego Market, where, so long
as he had been able to obtain the necessary credit, he
had been in the habit of taking an occasional meal.
To this end, having extracted a piece of gold from the
leathern bag, and having carefully hidden the rest in a
drawer of his bureau, he sallied forth in quest of that
40
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
with which to satisfy his appetite, carrying with him,
for the sake of safe keeping, the treasure casket of
jewels.
Having satisfied the immediate pangs of his appe
tite by a breakfast of unusual elaborateness, and hav
ing nearly overwhelmed the keeper of the oyster-bay
with the proffer of a double eagle of gold, from which
he was requested to extract payment for the entertain
ment he had just received, he returned home refreshed
in body and in mind, with renewed courage and pos
sessed by a keen and vehement desire to follow out to
its end the adventure upon which he now found him
self embarked.
Entering that bare and half-furnished apartment
which he designated his office and which opened into
his bedroom beyond, he discovered a stranger to be
seated in a chair beside the desk, as though awaiting
his coming. As our hero entered, this stranger arose
with a profound salutation, and presented to our hero's
view a person singularly tall and slender, a face of
coppery yellow, straight hair, a hooked beak of a nose,
and eyes of piercing blackness. He was clad with
the utmost care in clothes of the latest cut of fashion.
His linen was of immaculate whiteness, and- the plaited
frill of his shirt front exhibited the nicest and most
elaborate laundry-work imaginable. In short, his cos-
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
tume was that of the most exquisite dandy. His coun
tenance — the singularity of its appearance enhanced
by a pair of gold ear-rings in his ears — was that of a
remote foreigner of unknown nationality.
Without giving our lawyer time for further observa
tion, the stranger, in the most excellent and well-
chosen English, and with hardly a touch of foreign
accent, addressed him as follows : —
" You behold," said he, " one who has come to you
offering himself as a client, whom, though you may
find his business to be of a singular nature, you will
also find to be extremely inclined to profit you well in
the relations which he seeks to establish with you."
"Sir," replied Griscombe, with no little importance
of tone, "you come to me at a time of extreme incon-
veniency. It is now after half-past seven, and at nine
o'clock I may be obliged to undertake a commission
of importance beyond anything of which you can per
haps conceive. A journey of the utmost tragic im
portance lies before me ; and this box, which you be
hold in my hands, belongs to a wealthy and liberal
client, whose behests must in no wise be denied."
" I am convinced," replied the stranger, in accents of
the most extreme and deferential courtesy, " that your
time must indeed be greatly in demand if you cannot
afford to bestow a little of it upon myself. I am in a
42
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
position to be perfectly well able to indulge every
whim that seizes me ; and just now it is my whim to
become your client, and to purchase of you a consid
erable portion of your valuable time."
At these words it began to occur to Griscombe that
the eccentric being before him was, perhaps, better
worth his attention than he had at first supposed.
Accordingly, excusing himself for a moment, upon the
plea that he had to dispose of his present charge, he
entered his bedroom, and deposited the jewel-casket
where he had before hidden it, — under his bed, and in
the remotest corner of the room. Having thus left it
in safety, he returned again to the office, where his sec
ond client was patiently awaiting his return.
So soon as Griscombe had composed himself to lis
ten, the other resumed his discourse as follows : " I
am," said he, " as I before told you, perfectly well able
to pay for every whim that seizes me. That I may
convince you of this, I herewith offer you a fee which
I feel well assured is equal to any you may have re
ceived in your life before. Behold, in this bag are a
hundred pieces of gold, valued at twenty dollars each ;
and, if that is not sufficient, I am fully prepared to in
crease your fee to any reasonable extent."
At these words Griscombe knew not whether his
ears deceived him nor whether he or this new-found
43
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
client were mad or sane. Nor could he at all accredit
the truth of what he heard, until the stranger, opening
the mouth of the bag, poured forth upon the table
a great heap of jingling gold money. " You will," re
sumed his new-found client, with perfect composedness
of manner, " be, no doubt, considerably surprised to
learn the nature of the duty which I shall call upon
you to perform. It is that you play me a game of
jack-straws."
Here he allowed for a moment or two of pause,
and then continued : " You have doubtless observed
that I am a foreigner. By way of explanation of this
whim of mine, I may inform you that I am an East
Indian of considerable importance in my own coun
try. Being extravagantly wealthy and possessing a
prodigious amount of unoccupied time, I have passed
a great part of it in practising and playing the
game to which I now invite you to participate;
and by and by I became so inordinately fond of
the pastime that I now find it impossible entirely to
cease indulging in it. In this country I find every
one either to be too busily engaged to take part in it,
or too lacking in the patience to pursue it to a con
summation. Learning that you are favored with
ample leisure to pursue your every whim, I was en
couraged to visit you, and to invite you to participate
44
t 3
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
with me in my recreation. Since beholding you, I
am consumed with such an appetite to test your skill
that I am entirely willing to pay very handsomely
for the privilege of indulging myself. See, I have
brought with me the implements of my favorite pas
time."
As he concluded, the stranger drew forth from
a pocket in his coat a cylindrical box of ebony, carved
into the most exquisite Oriental design. Unscrew
ing the lid of this receptacle, and tilting downward
the box itself, he spilled out upon the table a set
of ivory jack-straws of so marvellous a sort that Gris-
combe, in his wildest imaginings, could never have
believed possible. Some of the straws were plain
sticks of polished ivory : others were ornamented with
heads or figures of wrought gold set with precious
stones. Each of them was different from the other, —
this a gryphon, that a serpent with distended crest,
this a yawning tiger with diamond eyes, that an idol's
head with a ruby tongue thrust from its gaping jaws.
The stranger either did not observe or did not
choose to remark upon the extreme surprise that pos
sessed his attorney. Offering his opponent a golden
hook with a pearl handle, he invited him to open the
game, into which he himself entered with every ap
pearance of the most entire satisfaction and enjoy
ment.
45
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
In spite of his not infrequent indulgences, Gris-
combe was favored with extreme steadiness of nerve;
and, though a casual acquaintance would never have
accredited him with it, he possessed at once patience
and perseverance to an extraordinary degree. But
neither patience nor perseverance or steadiness of
nerve was any match for the infinite skill and dexter
ity with which the stranger played his game. Gris-
combe was but a child in his hands, and the jack-
straw player dallied with him as a cat dallies with
a mouse. At the end of each round the stranger
politely assured his opponent that he played naturally
a very excellent game, and that in time and by prac
tice he might eventually hope to become no incon
siderable adept at the sport. But these courteous
expressions only declared to Griscombe how inade
quate was his play, and at each repetition merely
served to incite him to fresh endeavors.
At the end of an hour the stranger declared his
appetite for the amusement to be satisfied; and,
gathering up his jack-straws and replacing them in
the ebony box, he thanked our hero most courteously
for the entertainment he had offered him. There
upon, resuming his cloak and hat which he had laid
aside at the beginning of the game, he delivered
a bow of the profoundest depth, and departed without
46
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
another word, leaving the pile of gold pieces upon the
table behind him, as though they were not worth any
further attention.
Nor was it until he had fairly gone that Gris-
combe — with a shock that set every nerve tingling
— recalled his precious chest and that inestimable
treasure that had been deposited in his care, and
which for all this time had been left unprotected and
almost unthought of. At the recollection of this his
heart seemed to stand still within him, and his ears
began to hum and buzz, and a cold sweat stood out
upon every pore of his body. For upon the instant
it occurred to him that maybe this polite stranger
with his marvellous jack-straws was merely a rook
seeking to divert his attention while a confederate
carried away the treasure box from the room beyond.
With weak and trembling joints, and yet with hurried
steps, he ran into the next room, and, falling upon his
knees, gazed under the bed ; and it was with a feeling
of relief that well-nigh burst his heart that he dis
covered the object of his solicitude reposing exactly
where he had placed it.
With a heart as light as a feather and with a re
bound of excessive joy and delight at the thought of
the additional fee of a thousand dollars he had just
earned with such extreme ease and in so extraordi-
47
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
nary a manner, he set himself in haste to dress for
the journey that lay before him, finding it exceed
ingly difficult, in the lightness of heart that now
possessed him, to direct a proper sobriety of attention
to the possibly tragic fate that had maybe befallen his
first unfortunate client since he had beheld him the
night before.
With this concludes the second stage of our narra
tive, excepting to add that, when nine o'clock came,
bringing no signs of his client, Griscombe crossed
the ferry to Paulus Hook, where he found the post-
chaise awaiting his arrival, exactly as his client had
foretold. Entering this vehicle, our young lawyer
immediately began that journey which he pursued
with all diligence, stopping neither day nor night till
he had arrived at his destination.
48
HERE FOLLOWS THE
THIRD CHAPTER
CHAPTER THREE
The Horrific EPISODE in the COURSE of which the
LAWYER obtained a Third CLIENT.
UR hero arrived at Bordentown
'early upon a clear and frosty winter
'morning with entire safety and suc-
icess, and with no greater adventures
[befalling him than usually occur to
'the traveller in a private convey
ance upon so considerable a journey. Nor had he
the least difficulty in discovering Mr. Michael Des
mond's address, that gentleman dwelling in one of the
most palatial of those abodes that lend such an air
of aristocratic distinction to the town.
Immediately, in reply to his request to see the
master of the house, he was shown into the reception-
room, where Mr. Desmond presently appeared, pre
senting to his astonished sight a person so exactly
and minutely resembling his brother that, had Gris-
combe not known it to be otherwise, he would have
believed them to have been the same individual.
The remarkable resemblance, however, did not
extend deeper than the lineaments of the features ; for,
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
whereas the countenance of the first Mr. Desmond
had been overclouded by an expression of the most
sombre melancholy and the most overwhelming
anxiety, the face of this gentleman beamed with
courteous hospitality and generous welcome.
He still held in his hand the card which Griscombe
had sent in to him by the servant ; and, as he ad
vanced with a smile of extreme cordiality illuminating
his face, he cried, " I cannot, my dear Mr. Griscombe,
be too much delighted that you have favored me with
so early a call, since it will give me the pleasure of
having you to breakfast and of introducing you to my
daughter. I see from what you have written me
upon your card that you come upon important busi
ness from my brother; but, before satisfying my curi
osity upon that point, I shall insist that you first
appease the craving of what must be a very hearty
appetite after so long a journey."
Nor would he accept any refusal of his invitation,
but, with polite determination, put aside every effort
that Griscombe made to explain the pressing and
tragic nature of his mission. " Nay," he cried, as
Griscombe continued to urge upon him the impor
tance of his affair, " I insist that you say no more at
present. I am perfectly well aware with what an
extreme degree of exaggeration a young lawyer re-
52
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
gards a commission that may very easily wait for
breakfast. I am determined that you first satisfy
your appetite, and then your sense of duty."
And so, protesting and insisting, he led our reluc
tant hero by the hand until he at last introduced him
into a spacious and sunlit dining-room, rendered
additionally cheerful by a large fire of cedar logs that
crackled in the marble fireplace. Here a table
spread with snowy napery and sparkling with crystal
and silver was prepared for an ample breakfast ; and,
as they entered, the slender and graceful figure of a
young lady, clad entirely in white, arose from where
she sat at the head of the board behind the tea-urn.
In response to her father's introduction, she replied
to our young gentleman's profound bow with all the
ease and dignity of deportment imaginable.
At that time Miss Arabella Desmond was one
of the most perfect beauties in the United States.
With a figure of rounded yet slender contour, she
bore herself with an ease and grace of deportment
that at once charmed and delighted the beholder.
Her features presented the most exquisite delicacy of
outline, and the rich abundance of her raven tresses
matched in their color the dark and lustrous eyes,
whose liquid brilliancy was ineffably enhanced by the
ivory delicacy of her complexion. Add, if you please,
53
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
to those graces of person a wit at once subtle and
alert and an address as amiable as it was entertain
ing, and you shall possess an image — imperfect, to
be sure — of that famous beauty whose hermit-like
seclusion from the world and whose mysterious per
sonality had now for above two years been a matter
of wonder and of speculation to the elegant society
of Bordentown, that would gladly have received so
admirable an addition into its fold.
Griscombe, as may be supposed, had all this while
maintained a close hold upon his precious treasure-
casket. He had placed it beneath his chair as he
took his seat at the table ; and what with the con
sciousness thereof, and of the interview with his host
concerning his brother's probable fate, he discovered
himself to be the victim of a singular embarrassment,
and strangely at a loss for words wherewith to com
mend his wit to the easy and affable beauty. It was
in vain that he endeavored to display the aptness of dia
logue which he was entirely conscious he possessed.
He was aware only, of an unwonted constraint ; and,
accordingly, it was with a singular commixture of
relief and regret that, at the invitation of Mr. Des
mond, he at last quitted the table, and followed his
host toward the study, mentally declaring to himself
that, should the opportunity again offer, Miss Des-
54
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
mond should discover him to be not so lacking in
brilliancy as she must have supposed from their first
interview. Nor was it until he found himself in the
study, face to face with the father, the strong box of
treasure upon the table between them, that he was
able to fetch himself entirely back to the seriousness
and complexity of the business which rested upon
him. Beginning at the beginning, however, he pres
ently found that he was recovering entire command
of himself, and presently, in clear and lucid phrases,
was reciting every circumstance that had befallen
him from the time of his absurd and preposterous
masquerade at the supper of the Bluebird Club to
the moment when his present host had met him in
the reception-room.
As he progressed in his discourse, a dark and
sombre shadow of extraordinary gloom gathered
deeper and deeper upon the hitherto smiling counte
nance of Mr. Desmond. By little and little the color
left his cheek; and an expression of the profoundest
anxiety overspread his face, causing him to resemble
to a still more extraordinary degree his unfortunate
brother. As our young lawyer concluded his narra
tive, the other arose, and began walking up and down
the narrow spaces of the room, betraying every ap
pearance of an infinite perturbation of spirit, sup-
55
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
pressed by an iron will and an implacable determina
tion.
" My dear Mr. Griscombe," he said at last, stopping
in front of the fireplace, " I shall not attempt to con
ceal from you my apprehensions regarding the fate of
my unfortunate brother. I fear that he is no more,
and that a tragic fate has overtaken him. That, how
ever, is now past and gone. It is irremediable, and
the question that at present lies upon us is that of my
own danger. Tell me, do you suppose it likely that
the agents who pursued my brother have any knowl
edge of my being established in this place ? "
" That I cannot tell you," said Griscombe, " unless,
indeed, the mysterious jack-straw player who pene
trated into my office may have been in search of
such information. I confess I cannot account in any
other way for his coming to me."
" It may be so," said Mr. Desmond, thoughtfully.
" At any rate, I shall immediately quit this place
where I now live, and shall seek for an asylum in
some still more retired and undiscoverable locality.
Meantime let us examine into the safety of the treas
ure which you have so faithfully transported thither."
And, as he concluded his speech, he arose, and
crossing the room to a handsome mahogany escri
toire, and opening a secret drawer therein, brought
56
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
thence a small steel key, the fellow to that with which
his unfortunate brother had once before opened the
casket in Griscombe's presence. This he applied to
the lock, gave it a turn, and threw back the lid.
The piercing and terrible shriek which instantly
succeeded the action struck through Griscombe's
brain like a dagger. The next moment he beheld his
host stagger back, clutching at the empty air, and at
last fall into a dishevelled heap into the arm-chair
behind him, where he lay white and shrunken to
gether as though shrivelled up to one-half his former
size and bulk by a vision that had just blasted his
sight.
So unexpected was this conclusion, and so terrify
ing, that Griscombe sat as though stupefied. At last
he arose, hardly conscious of what he was doing, and
the next moment found himself gazing down into
the interior depths of the open casket, like one in a
dream.
There before him he beheld a spectacle the most
dreadful that ever he had beheld. His sight appeared
to him to swim as though through a transparent fluid,
his brain expanded with a fantastic volatility, and his
soul fluttered, as it were, upon his lips. For there
before him lay, entirely surrounded by lamb's wool as
white as snow, a still, calm face, as transparent as
57
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
wax, — the immobile face of the first Mr. Desmond,
now infinitely terrible in its image of eternal sleep.
As though in a malign mockery, the now worthless
jewels — about which the possessor had once been so
infinitely concerned — had been poured out carelessly
upon the motionless lineaments. A precious dia
mond, like a tear, reposed upon the transparent cheek,
and a ruby of inestimable value clung to the pallid
and sphinx-like lips. Across the forehead was
stretched a fillet of linen ; and upon it were inscribed
in letters as black as ink the two ominous words —
YOU NEXT
How long Griscombe stood like one entranced,
gazing at the dreadful spectacle before him, he could
never tell; but, when at last he turned, it was to
behold that Mr. Desmond had arisen from his seat,
and that he was now clutching to the mantel-shelf
as he stood leaning against it, his body heaving and
his whole frame convulsed with the vehemence of the
passion that racked every joint and bone. " God,
man ! " he cried at last in a hoarse and raucous voice,
and without turning his face : "shut the box lid ! " —
and Griscombe obeyed with stiff and nerveless fingers
that strangely disregarded the commands of his will.
58
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
At last the unhappy man, having regained some con
trol over the emotions that convulsed him, and heav
ing a profound sigh as though from the bottom of his
soul, turned once more, and exhibited to the young
lawyer a countenance from which every vestige of
color had departed, and in whose dull and leaden
eyes and pinched and shrivelled features it was well-
nigh impossible to recognize the genteel and com
placent host of a few moments before. " You have,"
said he, in hollow tones, "just delivered to me my
death-warrant. In how dreadful a form it was served
upon me, you yourself have beheld. My sins have
overtaken me, as my poor brother's have overtaken
him. They may perhaps have been of an unusually
heinous character ; but how great is my punishment !
I call upon you to declare, even if our hands were
ensanguined with the blood of a prince of India, and
if the spouse of an Oriental king were executed at
our commands, and even if we were partakers in our
reward as in our crime, is not the fate that has over
taken us altogether too enormous for our deserts ? "
" As to that," cried Griscombe, " Heaven is your
judge, and not I. As for me, I begin to perceive a
glimmer of light through these mysteries that have
been gathering about me during these last few days,
and I declare to you that I will have no more concern
59
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
either in you or in your secrets. How is it possible,"
he exclaimed, " that I have come to be the partaker
in the consequences of that rapine and of murder in
which you and your brother were doubtless one time
so guilty ? No : I will have no more to do with you ! "
" And would you," cried the other, " desert me in
such extremity as this ? Then at least have some
pity upon my innocent daughter. We live a life in
this place without a friend or an intimate, — almost, I
may say, without an acquaintance. To whom am
I to confide her in a time of such mortal danger as
this? Am I to take her with me in my flight? And
what if my fate overtakes me upon such a journey, —
what, then, would become of her?"
Upon this plea Griscombc stood for awhile with
downcast eyes, every shadow of expression banished
from his countenance. As with an inner vision he
beheld Miss Desmond as he had seen her but a little
while before, — innocent, beautiful, radiantly uncon
scious of the doom that was about to fall upon the
house — and his heart was wrung at the thought of
such hideous misfortunes falling upon her sinless life.
"Sir," he said at last, "your appeal has reached me.
What is it you would have me to do? For your
daughter's sake I will assist you in so far as my abili
ties may extend."
60
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
" I would have you," said the miserable man, " con
vey my daughter, upon your return to New York, in
the post-chaise which brought you hither. With her
I will send a quantity of jewels similar to those which
you brought to me. These I will place in a strong
box, and that again in a portmanteau of such a con
venient size that you can easily take it into the post-
chaise with you. These jewels comprise a large part
of my fortune ; and with them my daughter, should
she be called upon to be separated forever from her
unhappy father, can easily live in affluence and luxury.
She, together with this treasure, you are to carry to a
M. de Troinvillc, who has for a long while been the
agent both of my brother and of myself, and who
is under considerable obligation to us. With you I
shall send to that gentleman a letter of full instruc
tion ; and, as soon as you have delivered that and my
daughter into his hands, your responsibility shall be
at an end, and you will have the satisfaction of know
ing that you have relieved the anxiety of one who
has probably only a day or maybe a few hours to
live, and who would otherwise have found his last
moments upon earth to have been blighted."
" So be it," said Griscombe, after a moment or two
of consideration. " I accept the commission."
" Sir," said Mr. Desmond, " you have won the
61
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
eternal gratitude of the most miserable man upon the
earth." And, as he spoke, he made as though he
would have embraced our hero.
14 Nay," said Griscombc, " I do not choose to accept
your caresses. You owe me no gratitude ; for, upon
my word, I declare that what I do is only for the sake
of your daughter, and that, except for her, I would
leave you to a fate which in no wise concerns me,
and which, from your own confession, you appear in
no small degree to have merited. Prepare your letter
to M. de Troinville ; and in the mean time, by your
leave, I will wait in some other apartment of your
house than this."
"You are," said Mr. Desmond, " neither polite nor
sympathetic. But let it pass. I find myself obliged
to accept your services, however unwillingly they may
have been offered."
Little remains to be said concerning this part of
our narrative, excepting that about ten o'clock Gris-
combe was summoned to depart upon his return to
New York, and that he found the post-chaise waiting
in front of the house, with the young lady and the
portmanteau already ensconced within. As our hero
stepped into the conveyance, Mr. Desmond gave him
the letter of introduction to M. de Troinville, and at
62
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
the same time thrust upon him a leathern bag con
taining a hundred pieces of gold valued at twenty
dollars each, declaring that he had employed him as
his attorney, and that this was his fee. Griscombe
would gladly have rejected the stipend, could he have
done so without betraying to the unconscious young
lady the portentous nature of the affair that had over
whelmed them all. As it was, he found himself
obliged, however unwillingly, to accept the gratuity
thus thrust upon him.
HERE FOLLOWS THE
FOURTH CHAPTER
CHAPTER FOUR
In which is related the Remarkable REQUEST of the
LAWYER'S Fourth CLIENT.
VEN if our hero had never again
! beheld Miss Desmond, he might
easily have retained her in his
memory for years afterward as a
bright and radiant vision of that
otherwise gloomy and portentous
episode of his life. As it was, what with his having
been intrusted with the guardianship of so beautiful
a creature, what with his pity for her unconsciousness
of the dreadful fate that had overtaken her father, and
what with the necessity he was under of disguising
from her the terrible events that had occurred, and of
answering in kind the sallies of the innocent and
entertaining gayety that burst from her continually
during their journey, — what with all these, and the
warmth and fragrant charm of her presence so close
to him in the narrow confines of the post-chaise, his
heart was possessed to its inmost fibres with so con
suming an ardor of pity and tenderness that he could
gladly have laid down his life for her sake.
67
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
It was at two o'clock of an afternoon upon the last
stage of their journey that they stopped for a dinner
at the tavern in Newark, N.J., almost, so to speak, in
sight of their destination. It was excessively cold;
and a light snow had begun to fall from the gray
and leaden sky, giving promise of an early night.
A cheerful fire of hickory wood burned in the fire
place, . diffusing a grateful warmth throughout the
apartment ; and in the pleasure of its heat Miss Des
mond yielded herself to an extreme relaxation of
spirits. She rallied Griscombe upon the diffidence
he had exhibited upon their first introduction. She
congratulated him with a mock seriousness upon his
approaching release from his duties as a squire of
dames. Her father had given her to believe that he
would follow her immediately to New York, accord
ingly, reminding Griscombe that the next day would
be Christmas, she invited him to come to M. de
Troinville's to dine with them. Nor could Gris
combe listen to her innocent prattle without experi
encing such an overmastering pity for her uncon
sciousness of the tragic fate that had overtaken her
father and for her own hapless condition, that it was
well-nigh impossible for him to answer her sallies with
raillery of a like sort. However, he continued to act
his part with such skill of performance that his com-
68
K
s
r
5s
O
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
panion never once suspected with what effort he com
posed the words he uttered.
It was at this juncture, fraught with such pathetic
emotions to our hero, that an apologetic knock fell
upon the door ; and the next moment, as in answer to
his own summons, a little old gentleman of extraordi
nary appearance entered the room. A long white
beard half concealed his face, which was of a yellow-
brown complexion, and entirely covered with a multi
tude of minute wrinkles. His eyes, piercing and
black, sparkled like those of a serpent beneath his
overhanging eyebrows.
" My dear young gentleman and my dear young
lady," he began in a thin, high voice, " learning at
the bar that you had a good fire in this room, I vent
ured to intrude myself upon you with perhaps as
strange a request as you ever heard in all of your life."
At the very first appearance of the stranger — who,
somehow, in his singularly Oriental appearance sug
gested the jack-straw player of a few days before —
a strange presentiment of evil began to take posses
sion of Griscombe's mind. Nor were his apprehen
sions lessened as the old gentleman, resuming his
speech, continued as follows : " I am, as you may ob
serve, my dear young gentleman and my dear young
lady, extremely old ; and I am obliged to confess to
69
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
the possession of certain follies of which I am now
entirely unable to rid myself. Fortunately for my
self, I am excessively rich, and so am perfectly well
able to indulge those whims, however absurd, that
have now grown altogether a part of my nature, and
which, in one so old as myself, can never hope to be
eradicated. Learning that you, my dear young gen
tleman, were an attorney-at-law, I determined to ap
proach you as a client, and to purchase of you a small
portion of your no doubt extremely valuable time."
Upon this he drew from beneath his cloak a leathern
purse full of money, which he set upon the table.
"In this," he continued, "are a hundred pieces of
gold valued at twenty dollars each. I offer it to you
as a retaining fee, and I venture to say that few
lawyers of your age have ever received so much at
a time from a single client."
" And what," cried Griscombe, with a voice he
could scarcely command, — "and what is it you desire
of me ? "
"I hardly know," said the old man, "how to pre
fer the extraordinary request that I have to offer.
You must know that I am inordinately fond of the
game of tit-tat-toe ; and my object is to purchase one
half-hour of your valuable time, my dear young gen
tleman, so that I may indulge myself in my favorite
pastime."
70
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
At these extraordinary words, and at the entire
seriousness of the speaker, the young lady burst into
an irrepressible fit of laughter, which she found it alto
gether impossible to control. But upon Griscombe
the effect was entirely different. Those vague and
alarming suggestions that had already begun to take
possession of him leaped at once into positive reality.
He had for safety left the portmanteau with its pre
cious contents in the adjoining bedroom, which he had
just used as a dressing-chamber, and he instantly per
ceived, under the innocent request of the old gentle
man with the white beard, the most sinister and
malignant designs upon it. He sprung to his feet, as
though stung by the lash of a fury. "You villain,"
he cried in a hoarse and straining voice, " I know
what are your designs ; and but for this young lady,
and my desire to conceal from her your ominous
purposes, I would fling you at once out of the win
dow. Begone, lest I find it impossible to restrain
myself! "
These words were uttered with a paroxysm of pas
sion such as the young lady was entirely unable to
account for. Never before had she beheld our hero
exhibit anything but the utmost delicacy and gentle
ness of manner ; and now, not in the least understand
ing the reason for his fury, she gazed upon him with
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
astonishment, in which terror was almost the entire
component part. These emotions, however, gradu
ally gave place to an increasing and generous indig
nation at what she considered the unmerited violence
exhibited by a young man against another old enough
to be his grandsirc.
" Upon my word, Mr. Griscombe," she cried indig
nantly, " I profess I am entirely at a loss to under
stand your anger against this poor old gentleman.
What, may I ask, is the reason of your excessive fury
at so harmless a request as that which he has prof
fered?"
" Madame," exclaimed Griscombe, vehemently, " I
cannot explain it to you."
" I confess," she cried with still more heat than
before, " I cannot understand your violence, unless it
is that you fear to appear ridiculous by indulging this
poor old gentleman in his innocent whim." And
then, upon our hero's continued silence, she added:
" I could not have believed it possible that you could
have exhibited so much impatience and anger at so
slight a cause. My opinion of you is altogether al
tered from what it was ; nor can I again recover my
original favorable impression unless you offer such
reparation as lies in your power by accepting the fee
which has been so generously offered you, and by
72
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
sitting down and gratifying your client with the game
of tit-tat-toe he has requested. Should you decline
such reparation, I can, as I say, never entertain again
for you the regard I have until now experienced."
"Indeed," said the old man, in a gentle voice, but
with a smile in which Griscombe read the most
malignant and sinister suggestion, "if the young
gentleman apprehends any malevolent designs upon
my part, he has only to declare what he suspects ; and
I will go directly away. If, however, he has nothing
with which to accuse me, I, too, shall insist upon it
that he, by way of a penance, shall indulge me with
my little game."
Poor Griscombe stood overwhelmed with a multi
tude of emotions. One thing alone was clear to his
mind : he must protect his innocent and precious
charge from all knowledge of what had now doubtless
befallen her unhappy father. It were better that those
emissaries of evil that had beset him should fulfil
their every purpose — even to the last — rather than
that she should suffer. He must be dumb, and allow
them to conclude their dreadful work. After all, he
could easily inform M. de Troinville before the fatal
portmanteau should be opened. " I will obey you if
you command me, madame," he cried ; " but pray, pray
spare me this ! " And, as he spoke, he fixed upon Miss
73
T H E P R I C E O F BLOOD
Desmond a look of such agonizing appeal that she
could not but have been moved by it, had she not
been blinded by her own imperiousness of purpose.
As it was, she only hardened her face into a still
more immovable expression of determination. Where
upon, rinding her not to be shaken, our hero sank
into rather than sat down upon the chair beside him.
The old gentleman with the beard, having thus
gained his point, beamed with the utmost 'cheerful
ness of expression, and, advancing with alacrity,
pushed aside the dinner plates, and immediately as
sumed a position opposite his unwilling opponent,
and between him and the door of the room where his
precious portmanteau lay hidden. Having thus es
tablished himself, the old gentleman drew from a
capacious pocket a sandalwood box inlaid with ara
besque figures of gold and mother-of-pearl. Opening
this box, he displayed, to the profound astonishment
of at least one of his companions, an exquisitely
wrought tablet of mother-of-pearl and gold, pierced
with one-and-eighty holes arranged in a square of
nine. Opening a slide in the side of the tablet, he
thence emptied from a receptacle upon the table five
curiously wrought pins of gold, and a like number of
silver. Handing the five pins of the more precious
metal to Griscombe and reserving for himself the five
74
T 1 1 K PRICE OF BLOOD
pegs of silver, the old gentleman immediately ex
plained to his listeners the simple process of the
game upon which he proposed to embark. Each
player in turn was to thrust a pin into a hole in the
tablet, and he who could so far escape his opponent's
interference as to arrange three of the five pins in
a line should, upon each occurrence thereof, have
scored a point in the game. Having completed these
easy instructions, he immediately invited Griscombe
to open the play, which he upon his part entered
upon with every appearance of entire enjoyment and
satisfaction.
At any time Griscombe would have been no match
for the extraordinary skill of his opponent ; but, as it
was, he was so torn and distracted by a multitude of
emotions that he occasionally knew not what he was
doing or what he beheld. His imagination framed
the most ominous images of what was going forward
in the bedroom beyond; and he lost again and again,
while at times his hands trembled so that he could
hardly place the pin in its respective hole. Now and
then his hearing, strung to an unnatural intensity of
key, seemed to detect smothered sounds from the ad
joining room ; and at such times the ivory tablet ap
peared to vanish from his sight, and the sweat started
from every pore.
75
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
But, in spite of all he suffered, he took care never
to permit the young lady to perceive the agony
under which he labored. The frequent mistakes of
which he was guilty and the extreme inadequacy
with which he played the game she attributed to
mortification or to obstinacy. At last, at some more
preposterous blunder, she could contain her patience
no longer. " Why do you not place your pin in
that hole, Mr. Griscombe?" she cried: "it will score
you a point," And Griscombe, obeying, found the
next instant that three of his pins stood in a line.
At that moment a faint whistle sounded from with
out ; and the old gentleman, as though in answer to
a signal, declared his desire for the game to be
entirely appeased. Withdrawing the pins from the
tablet, he replaced them in their receptacle, replaced
the tablet itself in the box and shut the lid with a
snap. " Madame," he said, " I should have played
with you instead of with our young gentleman here ;
for, indeed, he exhibits no great aptitude for the
game." Then addressing Griscombe with a double
meaning that set every nerve of his victim to quiver
ing, " Nevertheless, young sir," he observed, " you
have afforded me a great deal of entertainment,
and I protest that you have entirely earned the fee
which you have pocketed." Thereupon he incon-
76
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
tinently departed, leaving the young lady and our
hero to digest, each in his or her own way, the
events that had just transpired.
So concludes this part of the narrative^ with only
this to add — that, had Griscombe had no one to
think of but himself, he would at once have torn
open the fatal travelling-case, and so have satisfied
himself as to the nature of its contents. As it was,
for the sake of his charge, who had in so short a
time grown so infinitely dear to him, he would
rather have had his right hand struck off than have
betrayed his terrible apprehensions to her innocent
ears. Accordingly, he still wrapped himself in his
martyrdom of silence, though he would rather have
sat facing a living adder than that ominous portman
teau upon the front seat of the post-chaise.
77
HERE FOLLOWS THE
FIFTH CHAPTER
CHAPTER FIVE
The CONCLUSION of the STORY of the young LAW
YER and his Four CLIENTS.
HE snow, which had begun falling
about noon, was, by the time the
two travellers reached the ferry to
New York, descending in such im
penetrable sheets as entirely to con
ceal the further shore from Paulus
Hook. Indeed, it required no little persuasion upon
the part of our hero and the promise of a very heavy
bribe to induce the negro ferryman to transport them
across the river upon so forbidding a night. And so
slow was their transit and so doubtful their course
that the night was pretty far advanced before they
reached New York.
The town lay perfectly silent, smothered in a
blanket of soundless white, upon which the ceaseless
clouds of snow fell noiselessly out of the inky sky
above. Indeed, the drifts were become so deep that
Griscombe entertained very considerable doubts as
to how he should convey Miss Desmond and the
now tragic contents of the portmanteau to their final
destination.
81
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
Accordingly, it was with the feeling of the utmost
relief that, upon quitting the ferry-boat, he was met
by a negro, who told him that M. de Troinville had
been already informed of their coming, and that,
because of the storm, -a conveyance had been waiting
at the ferry-house ever since early in the evening to
transport the young lady and her baggage to that
gentleman's house.
A large coach was indeed in waiting, the driver,
the horses, and the vehicle alike covered thickly with
a coating of white. In this conveyance our hero,
with the utmost solicitude, disposed the young lady,
and at the same time ordered that the portman
teau should be deposited upon the front seat. Hav
ing thereupon distributed a liberal gratuity to those
who had assisted him, he himself immediately en
tered, and closed the door ; and instantly the driver
cracked his whip, and the coach whirled away, with
scarcely a sound, upon the muffled and velvet-like
covering of the street, directing its course through
the continually falling clouds of whiteness.
Nor could Griscombe so far penetrate the obscu
rity of the thickly falling snow as at all to tell
whither they were being conveyed. Several corners
were turned and a number of streets were traversed,
the lamps whereof were entirely unable to pierce
82
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
the falling clouds of snow so as to declare the local
ity toward which the coach was being driven.
At length, however, after a rather protracted jour
neying, and to our hero's considerable relief, the
carriage stopped at the sidewalk before a large and
imposing edifice, altogether unlighted and as black
as night. No other building was immediately near;
and the mansion stood altogether alone, looking
down upon the street in solitary state.
Almost instantly upon the arrival of the coach a
number of servants appeared upon the sidewalk, as
though they had been waiting in expectation of the
coming of the travellers. Some of these opened
the door of the conveyance, and assisted the young
lady and our hero to alight ; others took charge of
the portmanteau, which they proceeded immediately
to carry into the house ; others, again, stood about as
though waiting in attendance upon the new arrivals.
All these attentions were preferred with a singular
assiduity and in such entire silence that Griscombe
knew not whether most to admire the imposing ex
tent of M. de Troinville's household or the extraordi
nary training of his attendants. Turning to one who
appeared to be the upper servant, our hero com
manded that the portmanteau be conveyed to some
place of safety unopened, and carefully guarded, and
83
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
that he himself be immediately conducted to M. de
Troinville for a private interview concerning business
of the utmost importance. In reply the man to whom
he spoke delivered an order in a foreign tongue,
which Griscombe was entirely unable to understand,
whereupon two attendants, as in obedience to his
command, conducted him and the young lady up the
steps and into a wide and imposing hallway, the front
door whereof was instantly shut upon them.
It was but little wonder that Griscombe and Miss
Desmond should have stood gazing about them al
together at a loss to understand in what manner of
place they had arrived. For, however much they
might have been surprised at any eccentricity of a
French gentleman living entirely alone in bachelor
quarters, what they beheld was the very last thing
they might have expected.
The faint yellow light of a single lamp, suspended
from the lofty ceiling by a chain, diffused a dim
illumination throughout the space, and by its yellow
glow Griscombe discovered, with no little surprise,
that the hall was altogether unfurnished. Not a
fragment of carpet lay upon the floor, not a chair,
not a stick of furniture, relieved the bleak and barren
space of wainscot about them ; but all was a perfectly
empty and barren desolation.
84
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
And, what was still more remarkable, the numerous
attendants that had just before surrounded them and
had introduced them into the house had disappeared
as if by magic ; and a dead and solemn silence reigned
throughout the entire edifice, broken only by a single
distant voice that, in a monotonous sing-song, inex
pressive intonation, continued for a time a level dis
course, which at last sank abruptly into an entire
silence.
There was something so ominous and threatening
in all the unexpectedness of these things that Gris-
combe felt his spirits becoming overshadowed by an
overmastering sense of impending evil. It was only
when he discovered that Miss Desmond was becoming
perturbed by a similar emotion of dismay, and that
she was clinging to him with an exceeding tenacity,
that, by an effort of will, he overmastered his accumu
lating fears, and, in spite of the cloud of apprehension
that threatened to overshadow him, regained command
of his courage once more.
" What does this mean ! " exclaimed Miss Desmond
in a hurried and terrified whisper. " What strange
place is this to which we have been brought?"
" Have courage," replied our hero, steadily, but in
the same subdued tone. " You are in no danger. We
have probably come to the wrong house, that is all.
85 -
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
Wait but a little while, and all will be explained." But,
though our hero spoke with so much courage, his heart
was exceedingly burdened with a sense of impending
calamity ; for he seemed to feel the network of circum
stances that had been gathering about him for these
few days past enwrapping both him and his ward in
ever tightening meshes.
At that instant the figure of a man appeared emerg
ing suddenly from out the gloom. He was tall and
thin, and was clad in a long flowing robe of Oriental
design. Desiring Griscombe and the young lady to
follow him, and without waiting for any question or
refusal, he turned, and immediately led the way up a
broad uncarpeted stairway to the floor above.
Here a narrow thread of light outlined a door open
ing upon the landing, as though emitted from a con
siderable illumination within. This door, as they
approached it, was suddenly flung open ; and the next
moment our hero found himself with his companion
in an apartment flooded with such a dazzling brilliancy
that, coming as he had from the obscurity without, he
was for a time entirely blinded by the unusual radiance.
Little by little, however, his sight returned to him;
and he discovered that he and the young lady were in
a room of extraordinary dimensions, suffused with an
oppressive warmth, heavy with perfume, and flaming
86
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
with a thousand radiant and variegated colors. Sur
rounding him and his companion on all sides was
a multitude of attendants of a foreign aspect, all clad
in extraordinarily rich and sumptuous costumes of an
Oriental pattern.
Immediately upon his appearance with the young
lady hanging upon his arm, this crowd of attendants
parted, forming, as it were, a vista through which our
hero and his companion could behold the farther
extremity of the saloon.
It was thus that Griscombe first beheld him who,
his instinct instantly told him, was the spider who had
woven all this web of mystery in which he had become
so singularly entangled.
What he beheld was a little yellow man with a flat,
fat face and black and brilliant eyes. He had com
posed himself cross-legged upon a divan of crimson
silk, surrounded by luxurious cushions of embroidered
patterns, and sheltered by crimson silk curtains re
splendent with gold, which hung suspended from the
walls behind him. His figure was almost entirely
enveloped by a purple velvet robe, thickly studded
with jewels and ornamented in arabesque designs with
seed pearls and gold. Upon his nether parts were a
pair of crimson velvet trousers, and upon his head was
a large and voluminous turban, enriched with a single
87
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
diamond of excessive magnitude and brilliancy, which
glowed in the centre of the folds of the head-dress like
a star of inconceivable size and brightness. In his
hand, brilliant with a multitude of rings, he held the
mouth-piece of the long and snake-like water-pipe, the
smoke from which he inhaled with every appearance
of entire enjoyment and satisfaction, emitting it now
and then in a thin cloud, which immediately dissolved
in the heavy and perfumed air. His face was devoid
of all expression, and he regarded Griscombe and the
young lady with an impassivity of countenance that
was in some inexplicable way infinitely ominous.
Upon one side of this figure stood he with whom
Griscombe had once played jack-straws, and upon the
other side the old gentleman with the white beard
whom he had indulged in the game of tit-tat-toe. Both
men were now clad in Oriental garb, far more appro
priate to their appearance than the garments of civili
zation in which our hero had first beheld them. Near
at hand, as though standing upon guard, were a half-
dozen or more negroes clad entirely in black, and
each armed with a naked scimitar, the blades whereof
shone now and then like lightning in the dazzling
light of the thousand waxen tapers that illuminated
the expanse of the apartment.
A long carpet of extreme richness extended the
88
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
length of the apartment ; and upon the floor, in front
of the central figure of all this remarkable and
terrifying apparition of Oriental splendor, reposed
the fatal portmanteau that Griscombe had conveyed
with such extraordinary pains from Bordentown.
At sight of this object it seemed to our hero
that all that which before had appeared so inexplic
able became instantly entirely clear, and it was as
though his very vitals dissolved with the fear of that
which might in a moment befall the innocent ward
confided to his care.
All this while he had been half supporting her,
with his arm thrown protectingly around her; while
she, upon her part, clung to him with all the tenacity
of a growing and overwhelming terror. It was at
this juncture that of a sudden he felt her form
relax and her clasp upon him to weaken. As he
gazed down into her face, he became instantly aware,
by the excessive pallor of her countenance, her
upturned eyes, and her closing eyelids, that, either
because of the excessive heat of the room or because
of the overpowering perfume, or because of the grow
ing terror which had entirely penetrated her heart, or
on account of all these causes combined, she had
fallen into a swoon that more nearly resembled death
than unconsciousness.
89
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
Looking about him, he perceived near at hand
a sofa of rich brocade, covered with a multitude of
soft and luxurious pillows. Upon this he laid the
inanimate form so dear to him, and then, rendered
bold by the desperateness of her situation, turned>
and walked directly up the length of the room to
where that ominous figure sat amidst its cushions.
" Sir," he cried, " I more than suspect who you
are, and what are the sinister purposes you have ac
complished. I may even, indeed, guess somewhat of
your present designs. I demand, however, to know
for certain what now are your intentions toward this
young lady and myself. Do not forget that we are
in the town of New York, and that a single call
from a window may bring me help at any moment."
To this address the being to whom it was de
livered made no other reply than to issue by a
gesture, and without moving the mouthpiece of the
pipe from his lips, a brief command to a gigantic
black, who stood near at hand. As in reply, the
negro advanced to the portmanteau, and with a
single movement opened it and displayed the con
tents to his master.
Griscombe had already taught himself what to
expect concerning the melancholy contents thereof;
but, now that he looked down upon it in reality,
90
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
he again experienced that singular and volatile
expansion of his brain, and again his every nerve
tingled with the shock which it received.
This time not one, but two waxen faces — so
exactly alike that they might have been cast in the
same mould — reposed side by side, smiling in sphinx-
like silence upon their bed of snowy lamb's wool.
And, as before, the jewels about which the brothers
had once been so anxiously concerned were scat
tered as in mockery in a shower of sparkling and
variegated brilliancy upon the immobile lineaments
within.
"It is accomplished," said a calm and dispas
sionate voice ; " and it is well."
Then, directing his words to Griscombe, the speaker
continued ! " You have been the instrument of fate,
and you have performed your part with admirable
exactitude. Ask what return you desire, and it is
yours."
At these words a sudden inspiration, as it were,
seized upon Griscombe. " Who you are and what
you are," he cried, " I do not know, nor do I ask
aught of you but one thing : it is that I be allowed
to convey the young lady yonder in safety from this
terrible place."
A moment or two of silence followed this, and
THE PRICE OE BLOOD
then the same dispassionate voice resumed its
speech. " I had intended," said the speaker, calmly,
" a different fate for her. But be it as you will :
she is yours. One thing only I demand of you. It
is that you deliver to me the letter of instruction
that her father wrote to M. de Troinville. Give
me that, and take the girl. The coach that brought
you hither, still waits below. It will transport you
whithersoever you may order. You have entirely
served my ends, and now you are free to go."
Upon the instant a remote clock struck the hour
of twelve ; and, as in echo, the chimes of Trinity
Church began ringing at no great distance, herald
ing for Griscombe the most extraordinary Christ
mas Day that was, perhaps, ever experienced by any
person in the United States before or since.
So concludes this part of our narrative, with
this to add, — that Griscombe conveyed that precious
charge, whom he had rescued from a dreadful and
mysterious fate, to the City Hotel, where, declaring
that she was a traveller who had been taken with
a sudden illness, he confided her to the care of the
worthy hostess of that excellent and well-known
hostelry.
Furthermore, it may be added that the next day
92
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
he with some difficulty discovered the residence of
M. de Troinville, to whom he recounted such por
tions of his adventures as he deemed necessary, and
whom he requested to take charge of Miss Des
mond. As, however, he had neither credentials to
show nor any proof to offer of the truth of his
statements ; as, moreover, the treasure with which he
had been charged had entirely disappeared, — M. de
Troinville either disbelieved or pretended to disbe
lieve the whole story. He declared that Griscombe
was either a dupe or himself an impostor, and he
ended by bidding him to leave the house, which
command our hero obeyed, consumed with an over
whelming indignation.
93
HERE FOLLOWS THE
CONCLUSION
N C L U S I O N
HE casual and flippant reader will
no doubt be entirely inclined to
ridicule the possibility of events like
these herein narrated occurring in
such unexpected localities as New
York, Bordentown, or Newark ; and,
if he reads the story at all, he will do so merely for the
sake of amusement and of entertainment, and not for
the purpose of seriously digesting its morals.
The more serious, however, will weigh well what he
has read, and will not be inclined to disbelieve that
which has been so soberly narrated, even though it
cause him some surprise that such things should
have occurred in the midst of sedate American towns.
For the benefit of the former and lighter class of
readers it may be added to the above account that
Griscombe undertook the guardianship of Miss Des
mond without the least reluctance in the world ; that
little by little he gradually unfolded to her such parts
of her own unhappy situation as he deemed it neces
sary for her to be made acquainted with ; and that,
after a sufficient time had elapsed, he proposed to her
97
THE PRICE OF BLOOD
that she should give him the entire right to become
her protector.
Having in such a little while earned eight thousand
dollars in fees from four clients, our hero embarked
upon his married life with all possible satisfaction and
happiness ; and, when in 1850 he discovered himself to
be at the head of the New York bar, no one would
have supposed that so serious and moderate a gentle
man could ever have passed through a series of such
remarkable occurrences as those herein related.
THE END
98
PRINTED BY GEO. H. ELLIS
AT 272 CONGRESS STREET
BOSTON, FOR RICHARD
G. BADGER fif CO., PUBLISHERS
BOSTON
20284
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